CRATE ENGINE CHALLENGE, CART RACING

Hi, welcome again to the horsepower shop for years. The big three have been duking it out from the showroom to the streets and onto the race track. And well, lately that battle has heated up to include crate motors. They come ready to bolt between the frame rails of your favorite muscle car.

That's right. Now, we've gathered a trio of terrific muscle cars here in the horsepower shop today and each one of them is a big block. But man,

that's where the similarities end.

Let's kick things off with a 71 dodge challenger hiding a 500 cubic inch mo

power performance. Big block rated at 505 horsepower.

Next we got a 64 Ford Fairlane jam full of a 460 cubic inch Cobra Jet from Ford racing. It's rated at 535 horsepower.

Finally, a 70 Chevelle Malibu that's been loaded up with a 502 cubic inch Ram Jet from GM performance parts. Now, this one's rated at 510 horses.

Now we're not here to settle any feud between the big three. I don't think that'll ever happen,

but we would like to give you an idea today of what each crate motor has to offer. That's right. Now, we're gonna take a look inside and check out the hardware and then later on, we're gonna strap it to the dyno Jet back there and see what kind of horsepower figures they'll generate at the rear wheels.

Now, the word wedge has been synonymous with mo power performance since the early sixties and well, today, this 500 cubic inch wedge carries on that tradition.

Of course, the foundation for this mega motor is a cast iron block

with cross bolted mains for a bulletproof bottom end. Now up here, you're gonna find extra material on the Siamese cylinder boards to keep everything stable. Even when you punch it out to a maximum 4.5 inch bore, plus there's extra material right here on the deck to give you a good cylinder head seal.

The rotating assembly starts with this for

steel crank with a 415 stroke. Now, the oil hose have been chanted and the filets radius for extra reliability.

Now, the pistons are flat top hyper

etic with a special coating

to reduce friction.

They're hung on a set of 4340 steel HB rods from eagle bushed on the small ends with high tensile strength cap screws here on the big ends.

Now, these rods have been shot pined and profiled to reduce the possibility of stress cracks.

The wedge heads are high flow stage, five pieces that have been fitted with stainless steel valves measuring 214 on the intake and 181 on the exhaust.

Now, they've set them inside 90 cc combustion chambers that are gonna give us a 9 to 1 compression ratio. Definitely pump gas friendly.

Now for a camshaft Mopar

performance chose a hydraulic flat tappet grind that specs out with a 292 duration and a 509 lift. Now, a lot of you Mopar guys will probably recognize this as their purple shaft.

Now, this wedge takes a single plane in one aluminum intake that's been set up for a single four barrel. You'll notice it's been drilled to accept either a square flange Holly or a spread board car. Now to get maximum performance out of this combination, they recommend that you use an 850 double pumper with two and 1/8 inch primary headers and guess what? That's just what our challengers got on it. Well, let's uh get this dyno Jet ready and make some noise

and that was one stop run.

I think that's the most power we've ever had on this

dyno Jet. It might be. I gotta tell you this thing. Sure failed strong. And the old challenger really stood up on the

dyno. But, hey, don't keep me in suspense. What's the news? All right. How about

346 horsepower, 6000 RPM s but

this 498 ft pounds of torque at 3000 man. This thing is a real torque monster. And there any gearhead worth his wrenches nose, it's torque that moves mass. Well, don't you move your mask for anything? It's Ford's turn next. As our crate motor challenge continues right after the break,

you're gonna feel things that you've never felt in a vehicle before

and you're gonna feel the ultimate driving sensation too. We would take you to open wheel racing school in Las Vegas later. You're on horse power.

Welcome back to horsepower TV, and more of our special crate engine challenge. Now, in case you've just joined us, we've got three muscle cars in the shop today, each with one of the big three's big block crate engines.

Now, we've already taken you through our Dodge Challenger with its 500 cubic inch wedge and now

it's the Ford's turn. You bet this fairlane is built along the lines of the Ford Thunder boat

and with that 460 Cobra Jet making 535 horses at the crank, made it on a run like one too.

Now, Ford racing starts with one of their season cast iron, two B blocks like this and they punch at 30,000 to clean things up

that gives you a true displacement of 466 cubic inches. Of course, the decks get a good clean up cut too to ensure better cylinder head clamping. Now, the bays have been line board to true up this bottom end

well, they may have started with a season block but I tell you what everything else inside there is brand new, including this nodular iron crank that's been prepped by champing the holes and radius in the filets.

Now, the connecting rod is a steel forging that's been fitted with a set of high tensile strength bolts. And the piston is a cast aluminum piece with dual valve reliefs and a reverse dome

with the aluminum cover

jet heads feature port designs by Ford racing engineer John Cassi. So they flow a lot better than stock and match the rest of the components of the engine. Now, the combustion chambers measure 72 CCS giving us a nominal 10.5 to 1 compression ratio.

The valves, by the way are swirl polished stainless steel measuring 220 on the intake

176 on the exhaust.

Of course, the brain of this big block is the camshaft and well this one's a hydraulic flat tap. It grind that specs out at 244 on the intake and 254 on the exhaust. Of course, both of them are measured at 50 thousands valve lift

and speaking of valve lift, hey, we've got 588 on the intake, 614 on the exhaust and well, that ought to be a cam that'll work well with their induction set up. Now, this is a single plane Victor style aluminum intake that's been drilled in Flans only for a square board carb.

Now, speaking of carbs, Ford got that 535 horses on the engine,

dyno

using an 850 double pumper and set of big tube headers. Now, we know that a lot of these components sound similar for the Mopar

and Ford, but bear this in mind, the Ford's giving up about 40 cubic inches in displacement.

Let's see if we can make up for it with that compression and cam timing. Well, that's a great idea. I tell you what, I'm gonna get the Mopar off the rollers and you fire up the fairlane fair enough,

man. That felt pretty stout. But uh what's the verdict? Well, you know me, I'm not a real good judge when it comes to Fords, but the

dyno Jet doesn't like check this out 455 horsepower and 446 ft pounds of torque. Man. I knew this was gonna be one bad blue oval, but that's more than I expected. Well, not so fast there. Blue oval boy, the Ford might be champion so far, but hey, the best is yet to come. Ok. Bow tie bubba. Let's go see what that chaves

got.

Well, one thing it does have is a strong foundation for building horsepower now, unlike the Ford, the Ram Jet 502 uses a new cast iron block with four bolt mains and up on top,

the cylinders are Siamese just like the Mo

power for improved stability and the decks have been reinforced to improve head gasket ceiling, but that beefy bottom end doesn't stop with those four bolt mains. Now, this thing's also got a steel arm in it that's been nitride treated for improved hardness and durability check this out. The mains have also been cross drilled for better oiling to the bearings. And as you might suspect all the oil holes have been champed

and the filets have been radius.

Hm.

Well forged aluminum pistons are found in the 502. And with this dome design,

they yield an eight and three quarter compression ratio like the Mopar pump gas friendly.

Now they're hung on a set of shot pined for

steel rods with 7/16 bolts.

The heads are aluminum with rectangular ports and 1 10 cc combustion chambers. Now, the stainless valves measure 225 on the intake, 188 on the exhaust. So far pretty standard fare for a good performance motor.

Yeah, but here's where the real high tech takes over. Now, the 502 uses a roller cam set up to reduce friction

and improve valve opening and closing rates. Now, what that means is you're gonna get good idle with lots of vacuum so you can run accessories like air conditioning and power brakes without sacrificing any upper RPM. Power.

Of course, the induction

is high tech all the way too. This fat rat is fuel injected. Now, these long runners are gonna give you plenty of bottom and torque and we check this out.

The injectors shoot right into the ports. Hey, Chuck, I gotta admit it.

This is pretty cool too. The computer for this thing is fully self contained and mounts right down here on the intake. What that means is, of course, no more snake and a big harness around.

All you have to do is give this thing 12 volts some fuel and you are ready to rumble. Well, speaking of rumbling, man, I'm ready to make some more noise. Not so fast there, bow tie bubble. We gotta take another break. But uh, while the Ford and Chevy change places, why don't you keep yours? Hey, we'll meet you right back here right after the break.

I may not have gone as fast as those guys do, but I had fun. I had an adrenaline rush going. I just, I'm so pumped up.

We'll pump you up with a trip to the track and the country's first cart driving school later on the show.

Hi. Welcome back to horsepower TV. And our big block crate motor challenge. Well, we put the Ford and Mopar through their paces.

Now. It's a Chevy's turn.

During the break, we warmed the Chevelle up to make sure the entire drive trains at operating temperature. So

I

guess we're ready to make a run. You ready? Let's go. Let's put her in the wood. All right.

Hey, this old Ramjet felt pretty strong on that pass. But I got a feeling those Ford numbers are gonna be tough to beat. Yeah. Well, you made 345 horsepower, lots of torque, uh, 484 ft pounds. And I especially like the way you spun the tires when this thing shifted into high. Yeah, I felt that too. Now, that's real respectable numbers. Especially for a loaded top down cruiser. Like this one. Now, this thing's got air conditioning and full power. That's a great excuse.

Oh, man, give me a break.

Now, what do you say? We recap the results of today's

dyno testing

the challenger with its Mopar performance. 500 wedge cranked out 346 horsepower with an astounding 498 ft pounds of torque. By the way, this crate motor sells for about $6000.

The fairlane with its Ford racing 460 Cobra Jet spun the drums to the tune of 455 horsepower and 446 ft pounds of torque. Now, you can pick one of these up for about $5500

and again, the Chevelle with a GM performance parts,

Ramjet 502 thumped out 345 horses and 484 ft pounds of torque. Now, it's priced at $7500. But for that,

you get a complete turnkey motor with fuel injection, electronics and ignition pretty respectable.

There he goes. Making excuses again. But seriously, I think all these crate motors earned our respect today, whether you're a Mopar

Chevy or a Ford fan. Well, I'm a fan of horsepower no matter where it comes from. And of course, we'll be coming right back at you

right after the break.

You want to know what it's like to drive a 600 horse Go

Kart with an attitude. Stay tuned for a session of park driving 101 next here on horsepower.

In the past few years. We've taken you to drag racing school to experience the thrill of an eight second quarter mile run.

We've also taken you to a school where everyday guys get to feel the thrill of driving the high banks of Atlanta speedway just like those NASCAR guys.

Well, this time, let's get a sample of what it's like to be an open wheel, indie car star for a few minutes. It's cart driving 101 and class is now in second

so far. So good.

You're gonna feel things that you've never felt in a vehicle before.

Uh 2 to 3, possibly 3.5 G.

Uh lateral G

driving 101 is the brainchild of Bob Lutz who wanted to open the nation's first school where just about anyone could get the ultimate driving thrill in an Indy racing League style machine.

Open wheel car is

definitely the pinnacle. It's

the fastest, most, technically technically advanced race cars in the world

and the experience of being one inch off the ground at

100 and 70 180 mile an hour on a race track with 3 to 4 Gs and a turn is, is an experience that you'll never forget.

Imagine

an 1800 pound Go Kart with a bad attitude, powered by a 358 Chevy motor making over 600 horses.

All that power. All those GS make for an unforgettable wind in your face shield experience. I may not have gone as fast as those guys do, but I had fun. I had an adrenaline rush going. I just, I'm so pumped up

until you do it. You really don't know what it's like. But it's, um,

you, you actually, you gain more respect for the professional drivers when you, uh, get shaken around like that, having driven a stock car and, and now the open wheels is nothing better than being so much lower to the ground and a car creates so much more down, down force and

it's half the weight with probably a little bit more power.

I mean, you, you're just driving nothing but pure race car.

Well, after the souvenir photo session, we're ready for a trip around the track with our instructor Dean Mitchell who's got all sorts of useful tips.

I gotta tell you it's impossible to hold your breath for eight laps.

So, remember you gotta breathe,

you have to breathe. This is the lowest you ever want possibly get. You don't want to be on this white line. Ok.

See if you look all the way down the front stretch. Now, what you can see

is the flag stand. These cars don't take a whole lot to turn them.

You just barely move the wheel.

They don't have power of steering,

but it gives you a better feel for what the car is doing out there. These cars are very rigid.

They're almost like a Go Kart with an attitude.

So with a head full of information and a body full of adrenaline, it's time to get going.

Thank goodness, the crew takes pains to make the experience fun as well as safe.

Really, all you have to do is follow your instructor's car reasonably close, relax, which you can do after a couple of laps

and enjoy the cheese

after four or five laps. You're doing 100 and 40

ready for more

then all too soon.

It's time to head back to the pits. And your stint as an Indy racer is just a memory. Well,

we've been drag racing, NASCAR

style racing and now this,

this may be the high-performance blast of them all man. It's great. You gotta do it.

Hey, this week's show has been all about horsepower and well, here's something to help you put it to the pavement.

Now, it's a traction control kit for GM Intermediates from Dick Miller racing. And, well, the kit includes a set of no hop bars, lower control arms and upper control arms that are adjustable to help you really fine tune your suspension.

Now, the kit also includes a set of the correct springs for your application. And well, if you want one of these kits, you're gonna have to spring about 685 bucks.

If you're looking for a way to pump up the power in your modular motor. Mustang, well, breathe easy. BBK has these new headers for 96 and up ponies. Now, their oval inlets match the motors ports perfectly and they have an extra thick flans here for a leak proof seal. The pipes are all mandrel

bent

and they connect to your exhaust with a factory style hook up. Of course, you can hook up with a set of these for around 500 bucks

if you've been spinning your wheels trying to nail down that classic look for your muscle car,

check these out. Now, these Edelbrock wheels are available in four different styles with either a polished or a chrome finish. Now,

the rim diameters are available from 15 to 17 inches and they have the right widths and offsets to fit your classic muscle car and keep it rolling in the right direction. Now, with prices starting at about 100 and $80 a wheel. Hey, you'll soon be on a roll too.